One of my favorite Saturday activities is window-shopping in Target. I’m pathologically responsible, so I don’t go on real shopping sprees very often, but at least a couple of times a month, I buy an iced latte at Starbucks and walk around Target—stopping to try on shoes I won’t purchase and smell candles I won’t buy. I leave the store knowing I spent only $4 but got all the benefits of some serious retail therapy.

You could call me a passive shopper because I look without any intent to buy. If you think this makes me a worthless shopper, however, you’d be missing my future potential. Because when I need to buy, I’ve already done an incredible amount of homework.

The same can be said of physician candidates...

The other day I was catching up with a friend over brunch, and she was telling me about her job. “I feel like my whole job is sending emails,” she said. “I send emails all day." 

As an email marketer I found this particularly funny. I didn’t want to be a one-upper, so I refrained from stating I literally do often send emails all day. It’s not exactly my whole job, but it’s a big chunk.

Many physician recruiters will tell you that, for all of recruitment's challenges, it also has its rewards—like moments when the importance of the work hits home. For Steve Jacobs, physician recruiter for WellSpan Health, one such moment came when he saw one of his physicians on the local news. 

Physician recruiter Melody Johnson's advice will sound familiar to anyone with experience in marketing: Know your target market. Ask enough questions to know exactly what both the candidates with whom you're speaking and the facilities for which you're recruiting are looking for. Communicate those points clearly and consistently.